Sno Cone's

Career waitress Debbie Campbell and her husband Tim who was a glass company owner in northwest Indiana were looking for warmer weather and an early retirement.  It was on a trip to Austin to visit their youngest son who was stationed in Fort Hood and heading to Iraq that they decided to close shop and move south for good.  Debbie says, “My original plan was to do a cookie shop in a mobile concession stand.  I always made cookies for Tim’s clients around Christmas time. No one baked up there.  I would take a week and bake and put them in tins or baskets and deliver to the companies he did business with.  They all asked when I was going in business, but I said it was just a hobby.”   

Instead of cookies, Debbie decided to try her hand at a Texas favorite to see if she was going to adjust to being inside a trailer.  “It gets hot in Austin and everyone likes their ice,” she says.  “We did not have snow cones in Indiana growing up – you get four months out of the year where you could call it summer and then you start running into fall and we like comfort warm foods when it’s getting cold.  We never realized how big snow cones were until we got to the South.” 

Debbie says it’s popular to mix a few flavors together at her sno cone trailer.  For example, she likes the ‘melon berry’ which is a blend of the strawberry and watermelon juices.  One of her customers, Razz, ordered a Mojito and Root Beer combination, which they named the ‘Razzle Dazzle’ after him.  Tim likes the sno cone classic Dreamcycle which is a combination of ice cream with orange.  And the kids seem to love a mixture of cherry and bubble gum.  “Hi, look what you did to my tongue,” said one of their four-year old customers after eating some blue ice.

The Flying Carpet

- Location: Gibson Trailer Park - 1318 South Congress Av. -@Gibson St.
- Hours: Wednesday - Friday: 6  PM - 10 PM
              Saturday: 12 - 3 PM & 6 PM - 10 PM
              Sunday: 12 - 3 PM & 5 PM - 7 PM
- Telephone: 512-744-5651
- Facebook: The Flying Carpet / Twitter: TFCAustin
- Cuisine: Moroccan Burgers


Maria & Abderrahim Souktouri are the heart and soul of the Flying Carpet with cultures as bold and brilliant as the food they are serving.  Maria grew up here in Austin, while Abderrahim haled from the ghetto in Morocco.  He won his United States citizenship in the lottery when he was 27 and came over to the states.  They met at a party with the Latin American studies department at UT and ended up hooking up at Club Rio.  Eventually they married and had their first-born, Talib, and with his birth came a change in lifestyle.  With a leap of faith, Maria quit her job as a paralegal for a civil rights attorney in order to stay home with Talib while Abderrahim kept his job at the Dell factory.  It was during these moments of chance that the couple decided to do something ‘just for them’ and try their hand in the food industry.   

Maria tells it like this, “We’ve always entertained and been foodies; having parties for 30-40 at our house is not a strange thing.  People rant and rave about our food and we’d always talked about what it would be like to open a restaurant ever since we first got together fifteen years ago.  But we knew enough to be scared…. When we thought about opening trailer we had plan b, c.  “b” was sell the trailer – “c” was move to Morocco.   But there were so many confirmations once we did this, and I realized the house, the biggest thing we’ll ever buy, even if we lose it, it doesn’t change who we are. Life isn’t a dress rehearsal its now.  What are we waiting for?  The trailer was something we could financially and logistically do.” 

Back in Morocco is where Abderrahim tested the waters with his trailer food endeavors.  He had a street food business there, selling roasted nuts.  He has taken his bride to his hometown twice, and his son got to go once so far.  The couple feels strongly about serving people what they would eat out of their own home, so all of the ingredients come from hormone free and cage free animals as well as organic vegetables.  Former Barton Springs Lifeguard Maria says, “The food in Morocco is clean and brilliant because it is not mass produced.  Even though I’m Mexican we never ate at trailers because they were dirty.  But Morocco is different.”   

In fact, the “Moroccan” is the Souktouri’s best seller. They use a very pure bread made of flour, salt and water which they buy daily.  Next, they pour a tomato sauce that includes tomatoes they have peeled slow cooked in spices, onions and then garlic at the end so as not to burn.  (The minimum they lovingly cook the sauce is 2 ½ hours.)  They use vegetarian hormone free beef and plop three little nuggets of the beef on top.  A vegetarian-fed, hormone free, cage free egg is fried and put on top as a final touch.  If that doesn’t have your tastebuds watering with underground soul food, I don’t know what else to write.

Trolley Cafe

CLOSED - 9/2010 - goodbye, Trolley Cafe

Cuisine: Coffee and Sandwiches

The concept of the Trolley Café began as an animal conservation project when Dustin Butler was volunteering in the Philippines for the Peace Corps.  There, he started working with locals to protect the Civet cat, a fruit-eating, tree-dwelling threatened species that is part of the mongoose family.  Fruit from the coffee plant is part of this rare wild mammal’s diet; they climb up to the top of the coffee trees and eat the sweetest fruits, leaving the beans on the jungle floor for people to harvest.  So Dustin worked with farmers in the area to develop a rare strain of coffee known as “Civet Coffee” using the beans the Civet’s leave behind.  And the money goes directly back to the conservation efforts he established with the same people he befriended while living in a tool shed in southeast Asia. 

The coffee is shipped from the Philippines through Adam Valenzuela’s shipping company in San Antonio.  Adam, a Pilipino himself, met Dustin through his shipping company and quickly realized Dustin spoke two of the native languages from his area.  The two went into business together and the Trolley café is a result of their friendship and business relationship.  Additionally, the pair have partnered with Sesa teas, which is a local company that imports Indian teas.   In addition to serving wellness teas and iced coffee, the Trolley Cafe offers breakfast, lunch and frozen deserts with an Asian flare.  From waffle stix, to grilled breakfast and lunch sandwiches, to real fruit smoothies, your taste buds are in for a real treat.

Their trolley is a nostalgic image.  It happens to be the same make, color and model as the old dillo trolleys that used to run here in Austin.  Dustin says, “We bought it out of a shopping center in Colorado.  We had it towed down and I converted it myself to a mobile kitchen, added a bunch of brewing and blending equipment… it still drives, it even has a bell on it.  In fact, people have tried to get inside and ask where we are going because they think it’s the old Dillo.”  Before setting up shop in the South Lamar / Barton Springs area of Austin, Dustin was driving the Trolley to various rodeos and events.  He anticipates utilizing the seating and rest area behind the trailer for live music, artists and other creative endeavors.

The Jalopy Rotisserie & Press

- Location: Downtown - 1502 San Antonio St.
- Hours: Monday – Friday: 11:30 AM – 7 PM 

              Saturday: 11 PM -  3 AM

- Number: 512-814-8557
- Website: www.jalopyaustin.com / Facebook: The Jalopy - Austin / Twitter: jalopyaustin

- Cuisine: Sandwiches - rotisserie pressed

When Nick Patrizi graduated from The University of Texas, his family was very serious when they sat him down and told him he could do anything he wanted except something in the food and beverage industry.  Afterall, coming from a large Italian family with a history of owning restaurants they knew first hand the ups and downs of the restaurant business.  But instead of taking on corporate finance banking gigs, Nick decided to try his hand at the family business but in his own way – out of a trailer. 


The contrast of clean quality product with super friendly Nick in a white chef coat out of an old 18 wheeler is beautiful.   He uses an onion marmalade with reduced red wine, reduced balsamic and clove in a demi glace to sauce up his chicken and he has a huge pot boiling down chicken bones to make chicken butter with fun seasonings which takes 72 hours to make.  He has an asian-based sauce with oyster and sweet chile.  My favorite part of the ingredient discussion: “We have seven different peppers that I pickle (that’s a peck): anaheims, poblanos, hatch, serranos, etc.”  Nick’s Asian Chicken Hot Sandwiches are not a panini – he likes his bread toasted and caramelized so there is a little burntness factor to it, just like home. In case your mouth isn’t watering yet, he has a caprese, but instead of basil he uses a juicy spicy parsley pesto with a medley of six different nuts (not quite a peck) with lemon juice, serranos, garlic and olive oil. 


From Beaumont to Switzerland, Nick has seen many beautiful places in the world, but he chooses Austin to call home.  You can hear an eclectic mix of Rolling stones, Earth Wind and Fire, Lady Gaga, and more when you walk up to make your order from the Jalopy.

Good Bike Cafe

“We feature locally handcrafted food & beverages, Cuvee direct-trade organic & single-origin roasted beans, Grand Cru espressos and the best darn Cuban coffee in town,” is the Good Bike Café way.  Originally from Miami, co-owner Mike Hanna’s parents owned a restaurant for 20 years and as such, he went through every position and area of the food industry from waiter to sous chef, general managing to bar tending and beyond.  Since his father spent some time living in Jamaica, he features an authentic spiced Jamaican jerk.  They are also serving up creative concoction including medieranean roasted lamb wraps and a tabouleh and hummus that will impress any hunger pang.  Regardless of their rich and tasty lunches, the Cuban coffee is hands down their best seller and crowd favorite.

Primarily because their theme and concept is Islander, you’ll hear music from different regions of the Caribbean and Jamaica including reggae, latin flare and even Mediterranean sounds when you bike up to order at this trailer in the UT campus area.  Their ’09 trailer was previously used as a coffee and hot dog cart prior to the Good Biker’s revamping and repurposing it.

Muck-n-Daves

Matthew (the Muck of Muck-n-Daves) remembers an old barrel smoker their family had under a pecan tree behind his house in Pleasant Grove, Texas when he was a kid where the men would bar-b-que and the women would dish up the fixins and sides.  He and his nephew Dave had experience winning the hearts of their family as BBQ enthusiasts prior to opening their food trailer on the popular food cart park on South Congress in March of 2010.  In fact, the pair had always talked about doing BBQ competitions with a mobile smoker when they retired, but as fate would have it they came across a good deal on a trailer and decided to realize their dreams a little faster.  With the help of some skilled welders and electricians they were able to create a unique detachable screened in area for their 800 pound grill designed for easy transport. 

Although sandwiches are their best-sellers since finger food is a popular portable lunch item, Matthew confides it’s his brisket that is really the king of the menu if you have time to sit down for a mid day picnic.  In addition to his love of cooking BBQ, it’s his customers who make the job worthwhile.  Matthew shares, “ It’s watching people take the first bite of my food and shake their head like ‘oh yeah, that’s what I m talking about’ – it’s rewarding for me.  I could work all day and all night and it’s that moment when I see someone take a bite and they cant even talk they just agree with shaking heads.  That’s why I do it.  That’s the moment when it comes full circle.”

The Texas Cuban

Hector Ward is the real ‘Texas Cuban’.  He grew up in southwest Houston on a cattle ranch that has been in his family for 120 years.  He is the first born of a Cuban refugee.  His parents came over to the United States via boat when Castro came into power when they were only 13 years old.  As many from his family that could come across, came over and landed in Miami.  In fact, a lot of the recipes from the Texas Cuban trailer are inspired from traditional family recipes from his grandmother, aunts and mother.

As to be expected, the ‘Texas Cuban’ sandwich is one of the trailer’s best sellers.  Other favorites include the Croquetta’s which involve mango nectar shipped from eqgypt to Miami and the Media Noche sandwich.  The Papa Rellena offers a scrumptious take on hamburger meat cooked with green bell peppers and olives, balled up and surrounded with mashed potatoes and deep fried in the healthiest possible of oils.  Have a Mexican coke with real sugar and some plantain chips with one of these and you’re set.

Hector cooked throughout his younger years in the commercial food industry and in the family kitchen before he became a musician.  It was in October of 2009 during an economic downturn that he and some of his band members decided to pool resources and try their hand at the trailer food business.  Hector Ward and the Big Time is a 10 piece band and Hector employs not only his own band members but other musicians as well.  “We’re all certified to do what we do in the kitchen, it’s just a way to get the good food out there and put good people to work,” Hector reports.